Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

[JohnErle]

The Theory of Everything ***.5/****

I understand John's complaints that there isn't any conflict but wouldn't Hawking's battle with ALS be the main conflict of the story?

It should have been, but the movie focused so heavily on the romance that Hawking's disease almost took a back seat to the love story, and the devastating effects of ALS even felt glossed over because that would have been at odds with the Hallmark channel, soft-focus, feel-good aesthetic of the movie. In this film, ALS is something that can be defeated easily. As long as you keep a stiff British upper lip and a can-do, rah-rah spirit, it'll all be tickety-boo.

[Chienfantome]

The Drop
I was expecting much better from this Dennis Lehane-written film starring Gandolfini and Hardy. The main problem with the film, as Six already pointed out, is Tom Hardy's character, who skips mood and character so much you don't really believe in him. 5/10

Un illustre inconnu (international title seems to be Nobody from Nowhere, while the title translates to "The Renowned Unkown")
Mathieu Kassovitz stars in the titular role of a real estate agent who alks through life transparent to the eyes of people. The man in fact spends his nights and weekends embodying people he meets through his job. He disguises as someone secretly and acts as if he is them. But he never interacts with anyone while disguised, he never tries to take the eprson's place. until one day, inadvertently, someone takes him for the person he is disguised as.
It's quite an interesting film, about losing grip on your own identity, and finding your place in the world when you feel like you're transparent to the eyes of everyone surrounding you. It's not a perfect film, but you're taken into it by the solid performance of Kassovitz. 7/10

Eden
The new film by young french director Mia Hansen-Love (Father of my children, Goodbye first love), who gets inspired by the life of her real-life brother, Sven Love, a French DJ who was one of the precursors of the "French Touch" in the nineties, alongside those who would later become Daft Punk. It's another fantastic French film for 2014 (I can't wait to come up with my Top 10 for 2014 French films for you guys at the end of the year), a film both soft and bitter through the life of a young man, through the 90's and the 00's. It's a human journey through the hopes and dreams of a generation looking for its place, not only on the music scene, but in life. Hansen-Love crafts a film full of spleen lulled by the electro french touch like Daft Punk and others. A great, great film. 8.5/10

Astérix : Le Domaine des Dieux
The new animated film inspired by the Astérix comic book. I'm probably the only one here who grew up reading Astérix, and this film is probably the best adaptation there's been, finding what made the comic book great and twisting it with the core of the film director's brand of humor. It's funny as hell. 7.5/10

[JohnErle]

Foxcatcher - 7/10

I've seen several critics describe this movie as a slow burn, and they certainly have the slow part right, but in order to qualify as a slow burn the movie has to eventually light a fire, and this one never does. Everything is too restrained and low-key, with the viewer usually kept at a safe distance during key moments, such as when the police storm the grounds to apprehend Du Pont and we only receive a bird's eye view of something that is only given a few seconds of screen time. And worst of all, Miller deprives the audience of the crucial scene where one brother learns that the other has been murdered. There are far too many shots of characters alone, staring off into space enigmatically, and the explanation we're given for why DuPont commits murder is far too pat and doesn't seem to match up with the reality of what happened. Wikipedia is the bane of any modern biopic, and this one seems to blatantly distort the truth to fit its interpretation of what happened. The performances are solid, and the story is inherently interesting, but I felt the material could have been handled better.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

Whiplash - A

This is the first of the Oscar candidates I've seen (other than Gone Girl), and if the ones I'll be catching up on soon are of this caliber, Oscar night will be tighter than JK Simmon's R. Lee Ermy impression in this film. I'd never heard of the director, but this is a fantastic coming-out party. The directing is, for lack of a better word, efficient. It's tight, it doesn't linger longer than it needs to, there's no arty tricks but there's still style.

Of course, everyone is talking about Simmon's performance - and with good reason. JK in Whiplash is the shark in Jaws, or the alien in Alien,...or the anaconda in Anaconda (?). He's there only when he's needed, and just when it might push into too much, he slinks back into the shadows.

[numbersix]

A Most Wanted Man - 5/10
Why does Corbijn direct everything like it's a funeral. Dull, slow, drab. Actually, funerals have more emotion. This political thriller attempts to be sophisticated but it's actually a bit preposterous. Some odd leaps of logic are made throughout, such as the whole plan of Hoffman's character (emotionally manipulate a guy inheriting lots of money in order to give it to a guy who might route some into a company that may be linked with terrorist activity). The surprise at the end lacked tension and felt a little arbitrary (why would the yanks roll in at that point - seems a little risky to ram someone's car rather than either follow them or demand, as they are powerful enough, to have the guy delivered to them. ).

Hoffman is deliberate and interesting in his role. It's only a pity he's playing the least interesting character in the film. Those with emotional stakes (the Chechen, the lawyer, the son) are cast to the side, when it should have been told through their eyes. This is particularly evident when the lawyer has to turn on her client and manipulate him. It's hard to believe as it happens so suddenly. It's a typical problem in adapting novels - when everything is rushed it's far less convincing.

One Million Dubliners - 6/10
What starts off as a light little film about Ireland's largest cemetery becomes considerably more profound. Sure, the interviewees are obviously going to reflect on death, but as the doc focuses on one person, the historian and cemetery tour guide, the film takes on an emotional heaviness, and packs a surprise punch at the very end. At times the style is very corporate-video, and at other times considered and beautiful.

[Buscemi]

Nightcrawler ***.5/****

I'm not sure if it's okay to say this but Jake Gyllenhaal might be one of the great American actors right now. His role as a sociopathic thief turned freelance cameraman is a career performance and he tears through the screen to make you incredibly uncomfortable with his penchant for mind games and using others for personal gain. It's too bad his role is not being talked about for an Oscar as he probably deserves it. It might be the best performance by any actor this year. Gyllenhaal is surrounded by a good supporting cast of Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed and Bill Paxton, as all three are given a chance to shine. It's amazing how they manage to hold on with Gyllenhaal and you can thank the direction of Dan Gilroy (making his directorial debut) for giving everyone breathing room to work. He also has an an eye for grittiness and realism as the film manages to make you feel like you are in Los Angeles, watching Gyllenhaal and his crew at work. In a way, it has a throwback to the rough indie films of the 1990's. This also has perhaps James Newton Howard's best score in years, managing to get out of the fantasy genre to create some art (think Drive meets his score to Falling Down).

One final note: don't be surprised if in ten years, this film gets better remembered than half of the films that get nominated for Best Picture come January.

[transformers2]

b]I'm not sure if it's okay to say this but Jake Gyllenhaal might be one of the great American actors right now. [/b]

Why would it not be okay to say that? Gyllenhaal has been on fire of late and is generally regarded as one of the best actors in Hollywood right now. (a sentiment I would wholeheartedly agree with.)

[Buscemi]

Compared to more traditional actors, I figured some would hold some of Gyllenhaal's earlier projects against him.

[W]

If Will Ferrell James Liptoned him, he'd probably have a third of the skit saved for Bubble Boy!

[Geezer]

Bubble Boy is his only good movie

[Buscemi]

Horrible Bosses 2 TURD/****

This should have stayed as one movie. Filled with an idiot plot that goes nowhere, obnoxious, one-dimensional characters that never shut up or learn from their mistakes and tired sex gags that were stale after the first opened, this is an unpleasant time at the movies. Jason Bateman needs to pick better projects, Charlie Day is a much better voice actor than a live-action one and the less said about Jason Sudeikis, the better. This is a film that gives absolutely nothing for the audience to care about and had it not been called Horrible Bosses 2, it probably would have never made it past the scripting stage. If there's anything wrong with the state of American comedy today, this film embodies all of it.

Good thing I saw this for free as I would have even angrier had I paid the $7.50.

[Buscemi]

Island of Lemurs: Madagascar ***/****

After the disaster that was Horrible Bosses 2, this was enough to cleanse the palette. Basically, it's a 40-minute documentary on lemurs and Morgan Freeman narrates it. Not much else to say but it makes me want to hold a mouse lemur.

[numbersix]

Two quick reviews

Skeleton Twins: 5/10
Pretty much an assembly of every Sundance cliche. Dramedy? Witty gay character? Comedy actors playing serious roles? Dumb side character for chuckles? Family reunion? Lots of pretty scenes? And so on. It's the story of twin who reunite after one attempts suicide, although it seems both aren't doing too well in their lives. The somewhat naturalistic story moves along well, although there's one massive, ridiculous contrivance towards the end that undoes the film's tone. But the chemistry between the leads is nice and warm.

Still Alice: 4/10
So Julianne Moore will win her Oscar for this? It's as dull and predictable as a film about a disease can get. The usual scenes of fearing something's wrong, visiting doctors, denial, telling your family, them treading around you, etc are all there and delivered with little imagination. And this is compounded further when one of the main character's daughters is an actress, and we get lots of conversations about the beauty of acting and how it's so empathetic and full of feeling, etc etc. It's hard to watch all this when you watch a film like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which is brimming with pain, sorrow, hope, and life, because the subjectivity of the experience is so well realised. Despite a decent performance by Moore, it's lessened by the script and direction which at times isn't much more than a Hallmark movie, demanding sympathy rather than eliciting empathy.

[JohnErle]

This Is Where I Leave You - 5/10

Sometimes you see a movie that surprises you with a comedian's ability to do serious drama, but this is not one of those movies. As much as I adore Tina Fey, this movie gives her several scenes where she's asked to cry or convey real emotion, and she's simply not up to the task, especially when working beside a scene-stealer like Adam Driver who makes even the clunkiest dialogue seem fresh and natural. Jason Bateman fares a little better in the lead role, playing the umpteenth version of the same character he always plays. The movie's heart's in the right place, but it's all so sitcomy and contrived, and considering the talent involved it feels like a big waste of what could have been a potentially interesting movie. The idea of a bunch of secular gentiles being asked to sit shiva by their recently deceased father, who was a non-practicing Jew married to a WASP, had the potential for a lot of culture-clash comedy, but instead we get a lot of generic, clichéd plot devices and stale jokes. I've come to expect better from Tina Fey, especially in terms of material, but this time it feels like she just showed up as an actor for hire and did very little punching up of the script.

[Buscemi]

Dolphin Tale 2 ***/****

This was probably an unnecessary sequel but I liked it anyway. Essentially, it's an excuse to watch cute little aquatic animals but that's a good excuse in my book to watch a movie. The coming-of-age elements that bridge the main plot of Winter grieving the loss of her partner are decent but the stars are easily the animals. My favorite was probably the sea turtle that they rescue early on. Otherwise, the plot is light but it's not too bad.